Happy Birthday
by Tess 4 5
Summary: Another episode of the Emerald Series Part 2: Time flies by. Life goes on in London. It's his birthday. I've just found old notes and thought I could work them out and get them off my drawer...
1. Meeting With Yazza

**Author's usual notes and disclaimer:** I don't own any of the original characters nor the original Inspector Lynley Mysteries – they belong to Elizabeth George and the BBC. I have borrowed the characters from the TV-Show and solely own the ideas of _my_ stories and the developments _I've_ let them go through.

Please write a **P** rivate **M** essage if I did something terribly wrong so I can fix it. Thanks!

Please read and review! More thanks!

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 **Author's note and summary:** Recently I've tidied up and found old notes (with some rather strange ideas, so please don't wonder) and I thought it would be a shame just to delete the texts so I've worked them out a bit. Maybe I'll do that with all these old notes.

Life goes on in London. Here's another episode of the Emerald Series. Enjoy...

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 **Happy Birthday - Meeting with Yazza**

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 _In fact although the topic of marriage was not brought up again it rotated in both their minds from then on. Not knowing that the other felt quite similar both blamed their hangover for the silence on that certain day but his proposal still was there between them somehow - for the rest of this Sunday and the rest of the following week. Even longer.  
_

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And then the last days of January and most of February flew by like a Royal Air Force squadron. Their team at the Met worked at three major crimes at the same time and only had solved one by now. On Tuesday evening, two days before Tommy's birthday, Barbara finally had the chance to let something other than work occupy her thoughts: She still had no clue what she could give him as a present. The DI would have a spare weekend from Thursday on but Ardery had put his Sergeant into office to clear up some paperwork. They could not insist on a shared long weekend without revealing their sweet secret so they both had accepted it teeth-gnashing.

To his surprise Barbara told him in the morning that she would not be able to accompany him in the evening because she had a date with her friend Yasemine. The two women needed a night for themselves, she told him.

"I'm going to miss you." Thomas pouted when they met in his office. "When will you come home then?"

"Tonight I'll be sleeping in my flat, Tom. I'm not-"

"No!" He wound his arms around her waist and buried his face in the crook of her neck. "I don't want to be alone tonight." he mumbled.

Barbara enjoyed his closeness and kissed his ear. "Thomas, I'll be back tomorrow." she chuckled. "You will survive one single night without me."

"No... not a single second." As if he was thirsty he searched her face with his lips until he had found hers. Barbara had no objections when he hungrily kissed her until a knock at the office door let them stop.

Thomas jumped to his chair and quickly opened a file while Barbara went to the door straightening her blouse.

"See you tomorrow, Tom." she whispered before she opened the door. "Winston. Hi. He's all yours."

Winking DC Nkata grinned and walked past her, DC Flaherty in tow. The new colleague had no clue about it nor did he recognise the soft flush on DS Havers' face.

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Earlier that week Barbara had talked a lot with Yasemine at the phone. She had become more and more desperate to find a nice gift for her lover and today the women would meet at the pub for a proper talk.

"Hello, Babba!" Yasemine called in the doorway already.

"Yazza! Come, sit down. And stop shouting that silly name." They hugged and Barbara's friend went to the bar to place her order. With a pint of apple juice she returned to the table in a niche at the window. "Are you sick?" Barbara joked pointing at the juice. She was sipping at a beer.

"Well, sort of..." Yasemine answered with a smile.

Barbara snorted a laugh. "Don't tell me you're pregnant!"

"Ok."

"No...?! Oh, really!? Congratulations!" There was genuine joy in Barbara's voice.

"Thank you. And when will you-"

"Nonono..." defensively Barbara shook her head. "Definitely too early. If at all..."

She actually had thought about it a lot lately. For years she had not dared to hope it would become an option but with Thomas it finally seemed possible. Of course she still tried to ignore the new hope.

"Mhmm... sure..." Yasemine eyed her friend closely. "Oh, come on... You-"

"It's not on the agenda, okay?!" Barbara defensively grumbled.

"Well, I hope it's not _yet_ on the agenda!"

"Shut up, Yazza, I really have other problems!"

"Okay then... When will the big day be and what do you already have?"

"It's Thursday and-"

"What?" Yasemine exclaimed with shock. "Are you crazy?! That's two days from now!"

Barbara chewed on her lips. "Yah, I know, but believe me, every spare second, and I've had not exactly a lot of them recently, I've racked my brain. From the first of January on. What do you give a man who has everything and if there's something he hasn't it surely is too expensive for me." Regarding how close the date was, Barbara told her friend, it now would be a nice gift voucher anyway. "But for what? A tie? A bow-tie? Cuff links? That's all so boring."

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"Yep, I agree. What about yourself?"

"Huh?"

"Just undress and tie a ribbon with a bow-"

"Oh, gosh, Yazza!" Barbara giggled. They clinked their glasses. "But yes, allright. If nothing else comes to our mind, it will be plain sex."

They laughed even harder. Then Barbara told Yasemine how much money she would have. Since Thomas used to pay most of the times when they went grocery shopping, every time of course when they went to a restaurant for dinner and even filled up the petrol tank of her little car one or the other time when she was not quick enough to prevent it, she had been able to put aside a lot more money than she used to. Still it was not enough for the Vespa she had seen at a vintage car seller the other day.

"A Vespa?" Yasemine asked confused.

"Yes. He's once told me that he had wanted to buy one when he was a teenage boy."

"Hahaha, a mod..." Barbara's best friend snorted amused. "Why hadn't he? He should've had enough dosh even when he was pimply."

"Oh, Yazza..." The vision of Thomas having pimples and the pubertal voice break made Barbara chuckle again. Some fluff on his upper lip though was a rather cute image.

"What?" Yasemine only grinned.

"Well, he already had a taste for old stuff when he was young and... pimply. It had to be the Vespa 150 GT, or whatever. A certain model from a certain year."

"Ah, all the earl..."

"You can bet."

"And you've actually found that model?"

"I don't know if it's exactly this one but it is from the Fifties and it looks rather cool." Barbara stopped herself with a wave of her hand. "And it's too expensive. So that's a great idea but not accessible."

"Isn't there an associated garage? Maybe they have old parts. You could engrave a rear mirror of that Vespa or something else with a sweet dedication."

"Actually there is. I could-"

"Oh, wait, wait, wait!" Yazza cut her short and retrieved her notepad and her reading glasses from her bag. "I have a brilliant idea..."

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A few wipes later the women adored the nice cars and motorbikes offered on the internet site of that seller. There even were parts for scooters but Barbara seemed not convinced.

"Ah, I'm afraid it will be my body." she mumbled putting her nose into her glass of beer. "It only has to be something very special."

"Don't make it sound as if you would not like that, Babba..." Yasemine did not raise her eyes from the screen. She was deep into reading something and her glasses looked funny while they almost slipped off the tip of her nose. "Ha!"

"Have you found a cheap exhaust pipe?"

"Bollocks!" She shoved the notepad across the table. "Here. You can simply hire one. You could make a nice trip. Just you and him and the scooter. And the stars above..."

Barbara read the conditions and very quickly the image of the two of them driving around in Cornwall having a nice camping weekend already formed on her mind. "Actually it sounds _really_ good..."

"Yes, and you just have to look for a cute postcard or make the voucher on your own. Or you simply buy it there. Here. They offer vouchers online."

Since it was settled the women went shopping. That is Yazza talked Barbara into buying some nice new jeans at a boutique the Sergeant would not at all have entered on her own, and later they spent the rest of the evening at Barbara's flat with ordered food and telly, a lot of chuckling and chatting and the preparation of a sweet voucher card.

His great day could come now.

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	2. Oh Happy Day

**A/N:** For those of you who know about my alternative chapters. There is one for this here and you know where to find it. You have the **choice**.

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 **Oh Happy Day**

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Thursday came and the two detectives were a bit too late for work. Shortly after midnight Barbara had surprised him with a glass of champagne and the night had been slightly exhausting afterwards.

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It was dark night when Barbara got up. They had gone to bed rather early because that stupid case still was unsolved and even Thomas had been summoned to the office on his anniversary the other day.

"Where're you goin'?" he mumbled into his pillow. " 't's still not morning..."

"I'll be right back, Tom." Barbara whispered and went to the toilet. But she did not return immediately. She tiptoed downstairs and when she returned to the bedroom she balanced two glasses of champagne and a small cake bar with a tiny candle. It was a few minutes after midnight.

"Happy birthday to you..." she quietly sang after she had placed the champagne on the bedside cabinet. "Happy birthday to you..."

"Oh, Sweetie..." Thomas sleepily sat up. The duvet fell to his hips and laid his chest bare. He smiled chuffed.

"Happy birthday, dear Tommy..." Barbara knelt onto the bed. "Happy birthday to you."

Then she held out the cake to him and smiled. "Make a wish."

Oh, yes, he made a wish. With the most seductive expression Thomas placed a hand over hers, looked Barbara deep into the eyes and blew out the candle. Then he took the cake from her hands and put it away. Gently he pulled her close to him and whispered. "I love you, Barbara." before they kissed.

The champagne on the bedside cabinet became stale.

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When their kiss deepened and their tongues languidly explored the meanwhile well known insides of each other's mouths Thomas pulled at Barbara's shirt until she wriggled out of it. He felt like it was time for more, no matter what time it would be they had to get up for work tomorrow morning. And he felt she wanted the same. His flat hands stroked her back and it finally made Barbara stretch it like a cat, her closed eyes facing the ceiling.

"Mmmh..." she hummed into the air.

"You still surprise me, Barbara." he sighed.

"I'm just making sure you're perfectly happy on your special day." Barbara purred returning her face down on him. "From the first second on."

"I do appreciate-"

Softly pressing her lips on his Barbara signalised that she would not want to talk more. With a gentle nudge she forced him to lie down on the mattress completely and from then on everything had their own special pace.

For a few seconds in between they paused and looked into each other's eyes. The room was barely lit by one single lamp next to the bed but the universal connection between them clearly could be read in their stare. Deep love and a sizzling tension built a strong bond between their souls.

"I love you, Tom." Barbara whispered.

"I love you too, Barbara." Thomas smiled but then his eyes closed again.

It was wickedly wonderful.

"Oh, good gracious..." he moaned defeated.

After a deliciously overwhelming expedition into shared happiness Barbara finally collapsed onto Tommy. His arms held her tight and both revelled in the wonderful feeling of the ebbing aftermath. They were satisfied beyond words.

"Mmmmh!" she hummed her contentment into his chest. "I hope your wish is fulfilled."

He chuckled lightly. "I hope so, too." he whispered into her ear.

Barbara still was too exhausted to wonder about his choice of words.

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Later Barbara laid herself back onto his chest again. They had sipped a bit of the almost unbubbly champagne after a few minutes of rest but they were still too exhausted to finish their glasses so they soon fell asleep in that position.

In the early morning when the alarm bell woke them up they still were tired. Barbara had made tea and had returned to bed to keep on cuddling with him for a bit longer. She had brought an envelope with her and then she gave him the voucher for the chosen scooter weekend for two.

Over their steamy mugs of tea and with growing excitement Thomas started to describe to which Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Seclusion (he emphasised the latter) he would bring her and what he would do with her there. Involuntarily it turned into a lascivious tale of making love under stars or in the shade of trees or with the roaring sound of waves crushing against the beach. More and more his lips turned his words into kisses and they stayed in bed another bit longer than planned.

"After a nice ride with your leather clad chest pressing into my back, your arms looped around my waist..." he fantasised grinning and placed his mug on the bedside table.

"Oh, god, I can imagine that." she whispered. The porcellain clinked when her half-empty mug met his.

"I'd happily peel you off your tight leather shell and lay you amongst wavy green seas of wheat..."

"Tom..." Barbara sighed warning. They had to go to work and not lose themselves in bed once more.

"...under the bright light of the sun, birds singing somewhere in the distant skies, and I..." His gentle hands had pushed her down onto the bed transversely.

"Oh, Tom!" she sighed again.

His words and his caresses were the reason why they were a bit too late for work but nobody seemed to care since they all were engrossed in work. Nobody seemed to take notice when their boss entered the office together with the Sergeant. Except Winston of course who could not help but shoot the juiciest of grins at Barbara continuously.

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In the evening they officially celebrated his birthday with having dinner in a nice little restaurant with the family. It was simple and Barbara wondered if he had chosen it to please her. It definitely was not a restaurant that one of his lot would have picked but it looked nice. Thomas had invited his mother, Judith and Peter, who came with Emily. Deborah and Simon unfortunately were on a holiday but it should have been an intimate round anyway with only the closest people in his life so there were no other friends.

When Judith arrived and Barbara still was occupied by a happily effusive Daze she hugged her brother in front of the restaurant.

"Happy birthday, Tommy." she laughed. "You look extraordinarily good today. Is there anything else we have to celebrate?"

"What do you mean?" He frowned at his sister's wriggling eyebrows.

"Have you asked her to marry you, for example..."

"Of course not." He still remembered how and when he had _sort of_ asked Barbara and the memory of that moment still hurt. It actually was like a sting in his mind that would not move away. A sting that reminded him constantly that he should try it again if he only dared to be made disappointed again.

"Why not, you stupid brother?"

At first Tommy was a bit surprised but the pain inside made him angry. "Weren't _you_ the one telling me not to rush things?"

"Yes, I've said that. But everybody can see that you two belong together." Judith answered. Then she snickered. "I really don't think it's rushing anymore."

"It's still a bit early, isn't it? You know for how long we're a couple, don't you?"

"Yes, Tommy, I know. But you have to add all those years before. And that's a very long time."

Tommy shook his head and shot a quick glance to where his mother was chatting with Barbara before he admitted to his sister that he had been thinking about it but he was in a way afraid of Barbara's answer. He concealed the unlucky first attempt but he told Judith that he was expecting her to say no, he actually _feared_ a no, or else, that she might back off from him immediately if he would ask.

"Oh, I don't believe that." Judith said convincing. The sad expression on Tommy's face though made her stop poking but she did not stop watching the couple during the enjoyable dinner.

In her opinion these two clearly were made for each other.

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